Mystery-Busters
by MWolfL
Summary: Dipper, Norman, and Mabel have started a soon-successful ghost catching business, but even with the help of new friends facing a dimension-traveling spirit may be too tough for them... DipperXWendy and NormanXAggie
1. A Ghost of a Chance

This story is dedicated to Harold Ramis, who played Egon.

The scene opened onto The New York Public Library. A middle-aged woman was collecting books off tables and carting them away. Some went to the downstairs area, s she carried them downstairs. Unseen by her, books flew from the shelves of one case to the shelves of the case opposite it. She did sense something weird going on, but when she turned around the books had stopped flying so she continued on her way.

She then passed the card catalog, and shelves started Ato open on their own. Cards started to fly out of their shelves, and this she saw. Freaking out, she ran around bookcases until she ran into something glowing white that blew wind at her. She screamed in terror.

Meanwhile, a spiky-haired man was analyzing the walls of a university with some sort of weird gadget. A brown haired man wearing a blue-and white baseball cap with a blue pine tree symbol on it suddenly rushed over to him.

"This is it!" He said excitedly, startling the spiky-haired man. "Get the camera Norman, and that tape we erased yesterday!"

"Dipper!" Norman protested. "I was just in the middle of a ghost search!"

"Well you can search here later, because there's one at the library." Dipper said. "It scared a librarian at 1:40 earlier today."

"Well why didn't you say so?" Norman suddenly beamed. "Let's get Mabel and check it out!"

They rushed to find Dipper's twin sister Mabel - who was scrapbooking in the cafeteria - and tell her the news. She was annoyed about having to quit early, but she was also supportive of her brother enough to join in. Heck, if she wasn't supportive of her brother she wouldn't have agreed to join their Paranormal Studies group in the first place.

"As a sister - and a friend - I have to say you are finally going around the bend on this ghost business." Mabel remarked to Dipper as they headed towards the library. "You guys have been running your butts off meeting and greeting with every skitzo that says he has a paranormal experience. What have you seen?"

"Hey, just because you haven't seen a ghost doesn't mean you can completely dismiss the idea." Dipper retorted.

"And I actually have seen ghosts, I just haven't been able to get close enough to them." Norman replied, looking irritated.

Mabel looked away awkwardly, remembering how most people believed that Norman had schizophrenia because he could see ghosts even when they were invisible. However the truth was that he was descended from a long line of Mediums, a line that dated all the way back to colonial times.

However Norman kept that fact a secret to most people for fear of becoming a lab experiment or something, even though he was tired of people assuming that he had a mental disorder. Dipper and Mabel, old middle school friends of his, were the only ones outside his family who even knew about him being a Medium. This didn't make Mabel a hypocrite though, she just believed that ghosts were always as invisible as the wind and so not worth investigating to non-Mediums like herself and Dipper.

"And don't forget Mabel, I was present at the unexplained undersea mass sponge migration." Dipper reminded her.

"Dipper, those sponges moved only about a foot and a half." Mabel frowned with disgust. "You know, this reminds me of the time you tried to use shock-therapy to test its affect on psychic abilities."

"That would've worked if you hadn't stopped me." Dipper frowned back.

"If I hadn't, we probably would've been sued." Mabel retorted.

"Guys come on, we got work to do." Norman interrupted.

A man approached them.

"Hi I'm Roger Delacorte - the Head Librarian - are you from the university?" He asked.

"Yes I'm Dr. Pines." Dipper introduced himself. "This is Dr. Babcock and my sister Mabel."

"Hello." Mabel smiled.

"Thank you for coming, I hope we can clear this up quickly and quietly." Mr. Delacorte asked hopefully.

"Well you can't rush these things, especially if you don't even know what kind of ghost is present." Norman said.

They were then taken to the frightened librarian Alice, who was resting on a lounger.

"I don't remember seeing any legs but it definitely had arms because it reached out for me." The frightened librarian said.

"Arms?" Norman smiled, not used to hearing about ghosts with arms (most reports were about wisps and such). "I can't wait to get a look at it."

"Alice I'm going to ask you a couple of standard questions okay?" Dipper asked. "Have you or any member of your family have ever been diagnosed schizophrenic, mentally incompetent-"

He stopped because he caught Norman's irritated look.

"No offense Norman." He added.

"Hey, I'm supposed to be the skeptical one." Mabel pointed out.

"Oh yeah this is your first time coming with us..." Dipper remembered. "I always ask these questions before investigating further, since we don't want to risk wasting our equipment on a false alarm."

"Oh."

"Dipper, it's moving!" Norman suddenly looked at his tracker, which was that weird gadget he had been holding earlier in the university.

Norman rushed towards the signal with Dipper and Mabel not far behind. They headed downstairs and continued to follow the signal until they spotted a stack of books in the middle of an aisle.

"Look!" Dipper said excitedly. "Symmetrical book stacking, just like the Philadelphia mass turbulence of 1947."

"You're right, no human being would stack books like this." Mabel agreed dryly.

"Does anyone else smell something?" Norman suddenly asked.

Dipper and Mabel took a whiff...and yeah they did smell something strange. They followed the smell to the card catalog.

"Talk about telekinetic activity, look at this mess!" Dipper gasped.

"Hey Dipper look at this." Norman pointed to some goo on the shelves.

"Ectoplasmic residue! Mabel get a sample of this."

"Me?" Mabel said incredulously. "Somebody blows their nose and you want me to collect it?"

"I want to analyze it." Dipper shrugged, handing her a container.

"I knew I was gonna regret joining your group one of these days." Mabel muttered.

Reluctantly, she collected some of the ectoplasm...and also got some on her hand.

"Oh gross!" She complained, wiping her hand on the books. "Ew ew ew..."

"Dipper, I'm getting stronger readings over here." Norman said. "This way."

"Come on Mabel." Dipper followed Norman

Mabel caught up with them.

"Here bro, your mucus." She deadpanned, giving him the container.

Dipper just silently pocketed it...and a bookcase fell just a few inches behind them. They froze with shock for a moment.

"Did this ever happen to you before?" Mabel turned to Norman.

Norman shook his head nervously.

"First time?"

Norman nodded.

They decided to press on, and followed the signal around some more corners...until they saw the ghost reading a book. Mabel gaped at the sight while Norman and Dipper looked both frightened and excited. Norman had seen plenty of invisible ghosts before, but never one this visible.

"So...what do we do?" Mabel whispered.

Dipper and Norman just glanced at each other awkwardly. Mabel looked at them with disbelief, then with annoyance.

"Could you come over here for a second please?" She grabbed Dipper by the ear and pulled him around behind the bookcase; Norman quickly followed. "Would you just come over here for a second please? Right over here, just come here Ariel! Come here! What do we do?"

"I don't know...this is my first fully-visible ghost." Norman shrugged. "Dipper, what do you think?"

Dipper brought out his book on the paranormal and started flipping through the pages.

"Stop that!" Mabel hissed, already fed up with his having read that book countless times.

Dipper blanched and closed the book.

"Uh...well we should try to make contact. Norman how about you go and try to talk to it?" He suggested.

"Good idea." Norman nodded.

Norman gave his tracker to Mabel and then went around the corner again. Dipper peered around to capture the whole thing on film.

"Hello, I'm Norman." Norman said to the ghost. "Where are you from...originally?"

The ghost just made a shushing noise. Caught off-guard, Norman went back to Dipper and Mabel.

"Well that didn't work...usually does to." Norman said.

"Okay, I have a plan. I know exactly what to do." Dipper said.

He led them around the corner.

"Now stay close...stay close...now do exactly as I say...get ready...GET HER!" Dipper cried.

The ghost suddenly made a scary face and screamed at them, frightening even Norman (who normally wasn't scared of ghosts). Norman, Dipper, and Mabel ran out of the library screaming.

"Did you see it?" Mr. Delacorte called as he ran after them. "What was it?"

"We'll get back to you!" Dipper called back.

"What?"

Finally, on the university grounds, Norman, Dipper, and Mabel managed to get over their fright enough to calm down.

"'Get her', that was your whole plan?" Mabel teased.

"Very scientific." Norman chuckled.

"Hey, I just got overexcited all right?" Dipper retorted. "But still, that was cool! We actually touched the ethereal plane! You know what it could mean to the university?"

"Yeah, this could be bigger than the microchip." Mabel sniggered.

"Aw come on sis, I'm being serious here." Dipper sighed. "According to these readings I think we have a chance of actually catching a ghost and holding it."

"Well, I prefer trying to talk to a ghost but that incident proved that it won't always work." Norman said. "So how about I first try to talk to the ghosts, and if that doesn't work then we capture the ghosts."

"Sounds good to me." Dipper nodded.

"Fine, but only because I love my brother that much." Mabel gave in.

"Gee, I'm flattered." Now it was Dipper's turn to tease.

Mabel just stuck her tongue out at him.

They then headed back to Dipper and Norman's lab at the university to further discuss matters...only to find a bunch of guys in there, including an unpleasantly familiar one.

"Oh, Dean Alvin." Norman rolled his eyes.

Alvin used to be Norman and Dipper's bully back during middle school, but Norman knew him longer due to them having gone to the same elementary school (Dipper and Mabel had gone to a different one). Norman, Dipper, and Mabel believed that the only reason why Alvin became the dean of the parapsychology department was so that he could continue harassing Dipper and Norman about their belief in the paranormal. Fortunately, Alvin's position prevented him from physically bullying them because the president of the university warned Alvin that if he ever harmed anyone he'd be fired. Unfortunately, Alvin could still get away with insulting them now and then.

"That's Dean Plasse to you freak." Alvin frowned.

"More like Dean Passé." Mabel smirked.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Dipper frowned, noticing that the other guys were packing up his and Norman's stuff.

"What's going on, is that you're going bye-bye." Alvin smirked. "The Board of Regions has ended your grant and you are to leave this campus immediately."

"Why?"

"Because your theories stink, your methods are worthy of loser-ville, and your conclusions are highly questionable. In short Dr. Pines you are a poor scientist...you even hired a schizophrenic for your assistant."

"He is not schizophrenic!" Dipper grabbed the front of Alvin's coat angrily. "Just because you've never seen a ghost doesn't mean they don't exist! Obviously the paranormal just doesn't want to waste its time with a caveman like yourself."

"Unhand me at once or I'll-!" Alvin glared back. "Hey! I'm not a caveman!"

"Could've fooled me." Mabel sneered.

"Dipper, come on, this isn't going to help us." Norman gently put a hand on Dipper's shoulder. "We'd better go."

Norman and Mabel started to leave. Dipper then let go of Alvin and turned around to leave...only to turn back around and punch Alvin in the face.

"Why you...you'll pay for this!" Alvin snapped.

"What're ya gonna do, have us expelled? Bit too late for that dontcha think?" Dipper smirked just before he left.

Outside the university...

"Well this is a major disgrace." Norman frowned. "Forget MIT or Stanford now, they wouldn't touch us with a ten-foot cattle-prod."

"Come on Norman, we don't need a major university to be a success." Dipper said. "Einstein did his best work when he was a patent clerk."

"You know how much a patent clerk earns?" Norman retorted. "At least the university gave us funds and facilities and we didn't have to produce anything...or so I thought."

"Norman does have a point, I worked in a clothing store before joining you guys at the university remember? In the working world you really have to earn your money, they don't just give it to you." Mabel agreed.

"Whatever reasons guys - call it fate, call it luck, call it karma - I believe things happen for a reason." Dipper smiled. "I believe we were meant to get thrown off campus and away from Dean Passé."

"While I do agree that being away from Dean Passé is lucky...why were we meant to get kicked out of the university?" Mabel asked.

"To go into business for ourselves."

"Maybe...but the ecto-containment unit we planned out will require money to make." Norman pointed out. "Where are we going to get it?"

"Well, there is that house mom and dad left me and Mabel." Dipper suggested.

So, they cashed in the deed to Dipper and Mabel's house.

"I dunno Dipper...we did grow up in that house." Mabel winced at the envelope that contained the paperwork behind the deal.

"Don't worry, after we become successful we can buy it back." Dipper shrugged. "Maybe turn it into a vacation home for ourselves whenever business gets slow."

"That sounds good...it would be nice to get away from the crowd now and then." Norman agreed, never having liked crowds.

"Well...all right." Mabel gave in.

So they looked for large empty buildings that they could use for their new headquarters. First up was an abandoned firehouse.

"There's office space, sleeping quarters and showers on the next floor, and there's a full kitchen on the top left." The real estate agent said.

"I dunno, it just seems a little pricey for a 'unique fixer-upper opportunity'." Norman hesitated. "What do you think Dipper?"

"I think this building should be condemned." Dipper winced. "Plus it's inadequate for our power needs."

They suddenly heard a whooshing sound and Mabel came downstairs via firepole.

"Whoo! This place is great, when can we move in?" She grinned excitedly. "You gotta try this pole! I know, let's have a sleepover here and try it out! I'm gonna get my stuff!" She rushed out of the building. "Firehouse slumber party!"

Dipper and Norman gave each other a deadpan look.

"I think we'll take it." Dipper said to the real estate agent.

"Good." The real estate agent smiled.


	2. Romantic and Ghost Troubles

A few weeks later, near a weird-looking apartment building, a woman named Agatha Prenderghast got out of a taxi with her groceries and headed into the weird apartment building. She went up to the top floor and headed for her apartment down the hall. Just as she was about to open the door a neighbor opened his door and poked his head through. His name was Jesús, but most people called him Soos.

"Oh Aggie, good." He smiled. "I was wondering if you wanted to come to my party next Thursday. I'm throwing it for all my customers since it's my fourth anniversary as a repairman, and I'd like you to come as a friend. Probably should've waited for my fifth before throwing a party, but I couldn't resist."

"Well you do throw good parties." Agatha, who preferred to be called Aggie, smiled back. "I am free that day so I'll be happy to come."

"Great...oh Aggie, you left your TV on too loud and some of the neighbors complained." Soos remembered as he heard sounds through the door. "But I turned my TV on loud so that they'd assume that there was just something wrong with the sets."

"That's odd, I don't remember leaving my TV on." Aggie frowned with confusion after she unlocked her door and opened it. "Oh well, thanks anyway Soos. I'd chat some more but I have rehearsal soon."

"No sweat, I have to leave on a repair job soon anyway." Soos smiled. "I'll see you later."

"Bye." Aggie shut her door.

The commercial Mabel, Dipper, and Norman had made for their new business was playing on Aggie's TV.

"Are you troubled by strange noises in the night?" Mabel asked.

"Do you experience feelings of dread in your basement or attic?" Dipper asked.

"Have you and your family ever seen a spook, specter, or ghost?" Norman asked.

"If the answer is yes then don't wait another minute." Dipper said. "Pick up your phone and call the professionals."

"Ghostbusters!" The three of them said.

"Our courteous and efficient staff is on call twenty-four hours a day to serve all your supernatural elimination needs." Dipper said.

"We're ready to believe you!" The three of them said.

Aggie just smiled with amusement before turning the TV off. Unknown to most people she actually had seen many ghosts before, but since they had been really nice she felt that those three characters were wasting their time with a ghost-catching business. She could see ghosts because she also was a Medium, but her powers were limited to seeing and hearing invisible benign ghosts because unlike Norman she never had anyone to teach her the other skills.

She then went into the kitchen to put groceries away. She first took a few things out, like a carton of eggs, and then took out some boxes and put them in the pantry. But just then, the egg carton opened on it's own and the eggs trembled. They suddenly broke themselves and started to cook on the counter! It only took Aggie a few seconds to notice and when she did she just stared in horror. Then she heard a weird growling noise coming from her fridge and nervously went over to open it. Inside was some sort of weird area with some sort of temple and this dog-like monster!

"ZUUUUL!" The dog-like monster said.

Aggie screamed in terror, slammed the fridge door, and ran away.

A couple days later, Dipper was overseeing a guy putting up the Ghostbusters's temporary sign.

"You don't think it's too subtle do you Marty? You don't think people aren't going to drive by and not see it?" Dipper remarked dryly.

Before Marty could reply, a siren was heard. A dark-grey old car with a siren on top drove up to the building.

"Everybody can relax, I found a car. With a siren!" Mabel grinned as she got out of the driver's seat. "Pretty cool huh?"

"How much?" Dipper raised an eyebrow.

"Only forty-eight hundred." Mabel shrugged.

Dipper crossed his arms.

"The repairs and improvements better not cost another hundred or more or it's coming out of your knitting money." He warned. "I'm going inside to see if we got any jobs that'll pay for your impulsiveness."

"Fine..." Mabel frowned.

Dipper walked inside frowning at first, until he saw their secretary Wendy looking at him with concern. He then changed his frown into a nervous smile.

Wendy had only been hired a couple weeks ago but already Dipper had strong feelings for her. This was because she actually liked Dipper, Norman, and Mabel back friendship-wise, which was a very rare occurrence for them, and had an interest in mysteries like Dipper. She wasn't into the supernatural that much however, but she was into excitement and hoped that working with the Ghostbusters would bring plenty of it.

"What's wrong?" Wendy asked.

"Mabel made another impulsive buy...this time a really expensive one." Dipper explained. "If we didn't need a vehicle so badly I'd make her take it back."

"Ah. Oh well, it'll pay for itself eventually." Wendy smiled reassuringly.

"It'd better. That reminds me: any calls?"

"Sorry, nothing. Just been sitting here reading another mystery."

"Oh? Which series?"

"Agatha Christie. Miss Marple specifically, I'm especially fond of her because she proves that even old women can be competent and kick butt." Wendy smiled. "Even if it isn't literal."

"Who said they couldn't be competent?" Dipper chuckled.

"Many people." Wendy smirked back.

"Then they don't know anything." Dipper grinned.

"Got that right."

"Well, until a customer calls I think I'll read a mystery as well. Maybe a Hercule Poirot." Dipper decided, not sure of what else to say. "Oh...where's Norman?"

"Double-checking that ghost-container thing downstairs." Wendy explained.

"Ah right, it is important that it works properly." Dipper nodded with relief, remembering that he was going to ask Norman to do that sometime today. "Well, talk to you later."

"Bye." Wendy smiled as she went back to her book.

"Hey Waddles." Dipper then said to the pig lying near his office's door.

Waddles was Mabel's pet and the unofficial mascot of Ghostbusters (Mabel's idea, unsurprisingly).

Dipper then went into his office, sat down, and sighed disappointedly as his heart started to calm down. Fortunately most of the time he could speak to Wendy normally, but nearly all of the time his heart pounded whenever he talked to her in general. He always feared that one day he would lose control of his heart and let his feelings slip out. He knew Wendy did like him back as a friend, but he was scared that she would never love him back and he didn't want to find out the hard way...not that there was an easy way.

Norman soon came upstairs.

"Well, the ecto-containment unit is safe." He said to Wendy with relief. "Is Dipper still outside?"

"Nah, he came in just a short time ago." Wendy jabbed her thumb towards Dipper's office, not looking up from her book.

Then Agatha awkwardly entered the building and passed Mabel looking over the car.

"Hello?" She said, approaching Wendy's desk and seeing Norman. "Oh hi, I'm looking for the Ghostbusters."

"Uh..." Norman blushed slightly, his heart pounding; he had never seen a woman this beautiful before.

Wendy knowingly raised an eyebrow towards him. She was about to poke him with her pen to wake him up when Dipper rushed to the rescue, having spotted Aggie through his office door (which had glass in the middle of it) and also having seen Norman's obvious love-struck expression.

"Hello!" He said happily, relieved to apparently have a customer at last. "Yes this is the Ghostbusters, I'm Dr. Pines and this is Dr. Babcock. Also this is Wendy, and that woman most likely working out what stickers and glitter to put on that over-priced car over there is my sister Mabel."

Mabel scowled at Dipper and stuck her tongue at him. Aggie giggled.

"What can we do for you?" Dipper asked Aggie.

"Well...truthfully I don't know what you can do, what I experienced two days ago may sound a little unusual." Aggie rubbed an arm shyly. "Oh, my name is Agatha Prenderghast, but I prefer to be called Aggie."

"With all due respect Aggie, when dealing with the supernatural there is no such thing as 'a little' unusual." Dipper said. "Come on back to the rec room and we'll see what we can do. Norman, you coming?"

This time Wendy had to poke Norman with her pen.

"*Ow.*" Norman frowned at Wendy. "Uh yeah, yeah I'm coming."

Norman and Dipper hooked Aggie to a heat-sensing lie detector as she sat down inside the rec room, which was used to interact with customers (or customer, technically).

"So, what did you see?" Dipper asked.

Aggie explained everything that had happened in her apartment.

"That was two days ago and I haven't been back." She finished.

"Interesting...Dipper, what's the verdict?" Norman asked.

"She's telling the truth." Dipper nodded after looking at the lie detector's screen.

"Well of course I am, who would make up a story like that?" Aggie frowned.

"A lot of people." Dipper explained. "Most are just attention seekers, some are skeptics who like to prank us...you can't be too careful in this business, sometimes the humans are more dangerous than the ghosts. Anyway, this could be past life intruding on present time, erased memories stored in the collective unconscious...wouldn't rule out clairvoyance or telepathic contact either."

"Um...I don't think it could be either of those..." Aggie looked away awkwardly.

Norman instantly caught the awkwardness and decided to offer an alternative.

"Well, we could ask Mabel and Wendy to look into the history and architecture of the building as well as the name Zuul." He said. "That might produce quicker results."

"Good idea." Dipper nodded. "Wendy does love a mystery so I'm sure she'd be happy to help, and Mabel...well I just want her to do more than impulsively buy stuff."

"Right. In the meantime I'll escort Aggie back to her apartment and check 'er out." Norman said.

Aggie looked at Norman with surprise as Dipper gave him an amused look.

"Uh, I meant the apartment." Norman blushed again.

Norman and Aggie started to leave as Dipper went over to Wendy and Mabel to talk things over with them.

"Really? I can help?" Wendy grinned.

"Of course, we may have hired you as a secretary but I can tell that you're capable of more than just taking calls and typing reports." Dipper smiled.

"Great!" Wendy grinned, grabbing her bag. "I'll head over to the library right now and see what I can find. Was going to go there anyway to see if I can find another mystery...but I'll do that after I do research on this Zuul stuff. Wanna come Mabes? It'll go faster if we both look."

"Okay. I want to get some books on car repair anyway to lower the cost of repairing our new car." Mabel nodded.

Meanwhile, Norman and Aggie were waiting for a taxi.

"So, why do you think it can't be telepathic contact or anything like that?" Norman asked. "I'm just wondering since we don't often meet people who know about that."

"Um..." Aggie looked away again. "I'd rather not say."

"Oh. Okay then, I understand." Norman smiled gently, feeling a little more open towards Aggie even though he was still shy around her.

"Really?" Aggie was a bit surprised.

"Yeah...got a few things myself that I don't just admit to anyone." Norman nodded.

"Oh."

They got a taxi and headed towards Aggie's apartment.

Aggie cautiously opened her door...and Norman finished opening it.

"Here, better let me go first." He offered.

He then started to use his tracker around the place, but no strong signals.

"Um...Dr. Babcock?" Aggie said awkwardly. "It happened in the kitchen, remember?"

"Oh...right." Norman blushed, fortunately with his back to Aggie. "Just...making a thorough investigation."

He went through the kitchen, with Aggie nervously following. The tracker again didn't let out a strong signal.

"What is that?" Aggie pointed to the tracker.

"Just a device that detects paranormal activity." Norman said; he then spotted groceries on the counter. "Are those the eggs?"

"Yes, see I was over there and these eggs just jumped out of their shells and started to cook on the counter." Aggie said, still sounding disturbed by the event.

Norman moved the tracker over the eggs. Bit of a signal but not much.

"Yup, definitely paranormal work." He nodded. "Now as for the fridge..."

He went over and opened the door...nothing. The fridge was back to normal, although the tracker did detect a slightly stronger signal near it.

"What?" Aggie didn't know whether to be relieved or upset. "No no...this wasn't here! There was this space...and weird building...and I definitely heard this creature say Zuul!"

"It's okay, often when ghosts have been discovered they go into hiding." Norman explained reassuringly. "That's why there's still a bit of a signal around here, it proves the ghosts had been here just not recently."

"Oh..." Aggie said with relief.

"Not sure when they'll be back either, often it can take weeks for them to return." Norman frowned.

"It's okay...and thanks for being so understanding." Aggie smiled. "I know most boys would make a cruel remark about seeing a doctor instead."

"Heh...no sweat." Norman blushed slightly, a bit flustered. "Um...speaking of doctors I'd better go back to Dr. Pines and see if Wendy and Mabel have found anything-"

He accidentally backed into the kitchen door, causing him to flinch and massage his head.

"And maybe I should go ask a medical doctor to insert eyes into the back of my head." He joked.

Aggie giggled.

Norman then fumbled backwards out of the kitchen and headed for the front door, Aggie following him to see him out.

"I'll call later after they've found some information." He added.

"Great...and again, thank you." Aggie smiled.

"Just...just doing my job." Norman said shyly.

"No, I meant for being so nice."

"Oh...you're welcome. Well...see ya."

"Bye." Aggie smiled before shutting the door, no longer afraid of her apartment.

Norman walked away with his heart pounding and his head scolding him for acting like a fool.

Then a man suddenly opened a door and looked out into the hallway. It was Soos.

"Oh, I thought you were Aggie." He said.

"No, but I was at Aggie's." Norman said. "She, uh...had a pest problem and hired me to take care of it. The company I work for deals with pest control."

"Oh good, I've been worried about her. Haven't seen her for two days." Soos said with relief.

"You know Aggie well huh?" Norman asked.

"Yeah, we've been neighbors for years." Soos nodded. "I've also been her repairman about that long, we became friends that way. Oh sorry, my name's Soos. Well actually it's Jesús but I prefer to be called Soos." He offered his hand.

"Norman." Norman accepted it, smiling a little.

"Nice to meet you Norman. Anyway, I hope that pest is gone." Soos said.

"It is now, but it might be back. I was just leaving to talk to my partners on how best to get rid of it." Norman explained.

"Won't hold you up then." Soos smiled. "It's okay anyway, Aggie and I talk often so you'll probably see me again when you return to get rid of the pest."

"All right, see ya then." Norman nodded.

Soos shut his door and Norman left.

Once back inside Ghostbusters headquarters Norman saw that Wendy wasn't back, and so went into Dipper's office to see if Wendy or Mabel had called while he had been gone. Instead there was just Dipper with a knowing expression.

"Okay, spill it." Dipper said.

Norman sighed.

"All right...I admit that I really do like Aggie, she's kind...and beautiful..." Norman blushed.

"So, have you told her that yet?" Dipper asked.

"No, I haven't told her anything. I haven't done anything either...except act like a fool around her." Norman groaned.

Dipper facepalmed.

"Seriously? Come on Norman, you've never had a crush before so for you to suddenly get one now means that there's a good chance that Aggie's the one." He said. "You gotta do something about it."

"Hypocrite." Norman retorted.

Dipper winced, knowing Norman had a point and suddenly realizing why Norman hadn't said anything to Aggie yet. Especially since they've only known each other for less than a day, whereas he's known Wendy for two weeks.

"Fine..." Dipper groaned. "We'll take the last of the petty cash, you call Aggie and ask her out and I'll ask Wendy out when she gets back and we'll make it a double-date all right?"

"Deal." Norman agreed.

"Hi!" Mabel suddenly poked her head through the door, startling Dipper and Norman.

"I hate it when you do that!" Dipper said exasperatedly. "When did you get back anyway?"

"Minutes ago, actually." Mabel replied. "Wendy's still doing research but I though I'd come back and order lunch for us...and, uh, the Chinese food I just ordered used up the last of the petty cash we had." She admitted sheepishly.

Dipper and Norman both fell into a couple of chairs exasperatedly.

"Sorry, found out about your plan too late." Mabel shrugged apologetically. "I do want both of you to be lucky in love though so after we catch a break and get more money in I'll help you get the girls."

"Thanks Mabel." Dipper said sincerely, glad that she was supportive even though he was still exasperated by them now being broke.

"Yeah." Norman smiled. "Thanks."

"Of course." Mabel grinned.


	3. Ghost Checks Out and Business Checks In

That night, Dipper, Norman, and Mabel slowly ate the last dinner they were sure they were going to have in a long time. Wendy was back by this point, having finished her research for the day. No luck on Zuul or the apartment, but she did find a couple new mysteries. She was reading one right now while eating her meal when the phone rang.

"Hello, Ghostbusters." She answered it. "Well of course they're serious!" She said defensively before freezing. "You do? You have? No kidding? Well just give me the address..." She started to write it down. "Oh yeah, they'll totally be discreet. Thank you."

She hung up...

"WE GOT ONE!" She cheered before pressing a huge button on the desk.

The alarm went off, causing Dipper, Norman, and Mabel to freeze with disbelief and end up thinking that they were hallucinating.

"It's a call!" Dipper burst out of his chair, now realizing that they weren't hallucinating.

Dipper was first down the firepole and he rushed to his suit.

"Come on!" He said towards the top of the pole.

Norman and Mabel soon followed and got into their suits as well. Wendy went over to Dipper as Norman and Mabel got into the car, which had been called Ecto-1. Fortunately the books Mabel got, and her and Dipper working together, allowed for the car to be in working condition by this point. It still needed a few improvements, but it was good enough for now.

"Remember, be discreet. This is a high-class location you're going to." Wendy said after giving Dipper the address.

"Thanks Wendy. Would you like to come and watch us in action?" Dipper automatically asked, remembering that she took the job for the excitement.

"Nah, I'd better stay here in case there are any more calls." Wendy smiled. "You go on ahead."

"Okay." Dipper quickly got into the driver's seat.

Mabel then slapped him upside the head.

"*Ow!*" Dipper protested. "What was that for?"

"This is our first real job remember?" Mabel frowned.

Dipper blushed and awkwardly started the car, having forgot one of the most important rules when starting a business: never invite a non-certified member of the organization, like a secretary or custodian, on the first full-team job. Especially since you might mess up or accidentally hurt someone else.

Dipper rapidly drove them to their next customer, which turned out to be a fancy hotel called Sedgewick Hotel. They parked right in front and headed inside, now also wearing proton packs (or, to explain it simply, ghost-catching ray guns).

"Hi, anyone seen a ghost?" Mabel called.

Dipper and Norman gave her an annoyed look. So much for being discreet.

"Thank you for coming so quickly." The hotel manager said, appearing out of nowhere and startling the Ghostbusters. "The guests are starting to ask questions and I'm running out of excuses."

"Has it happened before?" Norman asked.

"Well most of the original staff knows about the twelfth floor." The hotel manager explained. "The disturbances I mean...but it's been quiet for years, at least up until two weeks ago. It was never ever this bad though."

"Did you ever report it to anyone else?" Dipper asked.

"Oh heavens no! The owners don't even like us to talk about it. I hope we can take care of this quietly tonight."

"Yes sir!" Mabel saluted. "Don't worry, we handle this kind of thing all the time."

Norman and Dipper gave her an annoyed look again. Since when did the skeptic become a hypocrite? They didn't want to sound unprofessional by saying this out loud though, so they just silently headed for the elevators. One of the guests was already there and was looking over their equipment with confusion.

"What are you supposed to be, some kind of a cosmonaut?" He asked.

"No we're exterminators, somebody saw a cockroach on twelfth floor." Dipper replied dryly.

"That's gotta be some cockroach." The guest remarked.

"Bite your head off man."

An elevator arrived and let some people out. The Ghostbusters went in.

"Going up?" Mabel asked the guest.

"I'll take the next one." The guest replied.

Once inside the elevator, Norman chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Dipper asked.

"I used the exterminator excuse too when an neighbor of Aggie's saw me leave her apartment." Norman explained.

"Oh." Dipper now chuckled.

"Well, we are exterminators in a way." Mabel grinned.

"True..." Dipper's amusement suddenly faded away.

"You know...I just remembered we've never actually had a completely successful test of this equipment." Norman also was becoming nervous.

"I blame myself." Dipper said.

"So do I." Mabel agreed dryly.

"Well, no sense in worrying about it now." Norman shrugged.

"Why worry?" Dipper said dryly. "Each of us is wearing an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on his back."

"Yup...well let's get ready. Switch me on."

Mabel did...and she and Dipper both backed away from Norman as much as possible.

They then reached their floor and Dipper got the gun part of their proton pack out in preparation. His and Mabel's proton packs had also been switched on by this point.

A housekeeper suddenly showed up...and Dipper and Mabel automatically blasted her cart with their packs.

"Whoa whoa hold it!" Norman called out over the noise of the weapons.

Dipper and Mabel stopped.

"What the hell are you doing?" The housekeeper asked, both frightened and annoyed.

"Uh...sorry." Dipper said sheepishly. "We thought you were someone else."

The housekeeper started to clean up the mess while giving them a wary look.

"Successful test." Norman said dryly.

"Guess so...um, I think we'd better split up." Dipper rubbed the back of his head.

"Good idea." Norman nodded.

"Yeah." Mabel agreed. "I'll go this way, you two go that way."

"You sure?" Dipper raised an eyebrow.

"Relax Dipping-Sauce, I can take care of myself." Mabel rolled her eyes before leaving.

Norman and Dipper watched her leave for a short while.

"Well, it's been a long time since she last called you that." Norman remarked.

"Which means that deep down she's nervous or scared about going on her own." Dipper said. "Nowadays she only calls me that when she's nervous or scared but doesn't want to admit it. I believe she thinks it heightens her dismissive tone."

"Hm...actually kinda does." Norman noted. "Well, we'd better get to work."

"Right."

Dipper was right, Mabel actually was kinda scared. She wished she had brought some candy or sprinkles to munch on...

Suddenly, there was the ghost. A green blob of a gluttonous ghost.

"Dipper? Dipper?" She called down the hall, even more scared now.

Nothing, she was alone save for the ghost.

"Disgusting blob..." She said to herself. "I'll have to hold him myself."

She fired, and the ghost got away. It flew through a wall and the food cart it was eating off of followed and crashed into the wall.

Meanwhile, Norman - he and Dipper had also split up - was using his tracker to locate the ghost. Nothing, save for supposedly one of the guests going into his room. But Norman didn't use the tracker to double-check, his eyes alone could see that it wasn't a ghost in disguise.

A little later, Dipper spotted the ghost down a different hallway. Mabel was the first one he thought of when he decided to contact the others.

"Mabel?" He said into the walkie-talkie.

"Dipper!" Mabel quickly got her walkie-talkie. "I saw it! I actually saw it!"

"It's right here Mabel." Dipper tried not to show fear in his voice. "He's looking right at me."

"Ugly little spud isn't he?" Mabel remarked, trying to use humor to help her brother feel a little braver.

"I think he can hear you Mabel." Dipper said.

"Don't move, I'm coming!" Mabel heard the fear in her brother's voice increase a bit.

Dipper suddenly screamed as the green ghost flew towards him as if to attack!

"Dipper!" Mabel cried, running through the halls. "Dipper!"

She found him lying on the floor covered in gooey green stuff.

"What happened? Are you okay?" Mabel asked with concerned.

"He slimed me." Dipper deadpanned.

"Gross." Mabel winced, though she was relieved that her brother was okay otherwise.

"Well, better make sure this incident doesn't go to waste." Dipper said dryly as he got out a container and collected some of the slime.

"Dipper? Dipper, come in Dipper." Norman's voice said through Dipper's walkie-talkie.

Dipper picked it up.

"Hey Norman, remind me later to have a shower installed into the Ecto-1." Dipper said. "I just got slimed."

"You're saving some of it right?" Norman asked.

"Yeah he is, and thanks for your concern." Mabel remarked, annoyed.

"Oh relax, ectoplasm and ghost slime are harmless." Norman retorted. "Anyway, you'd better get downstairs, it just went into one of the ballrooms. I tried talking to it but I don't think it's capable of speech. Doesn't know sign language either."

"We'll be right down." Dipper said.

Dipper and Mabel rushed downstairs where they met up with the hotel manager.

"Okay sir, if you and your staff could please wait out here we'll take care of everything." Dipper said.

He and Mabel then shut the doors.

Norman scanned the room with his eyes, just in case the ghost had turned invisible to protect itself...

"There it is!" He whispered. "Around the chandelier!"

They quietly snuck into the room.

"Okay...wait a sec...ready...throw it!" Dipper said.

He, Norman, and Mabel zapped their rays towards the ghost, but it got out of the way in time. The chandelier however wasn't so lucky.

"Oops." Norman winced.

"See, this is why I was annoyed by you inviting Wendy along." Mabel said pointedly to Dipper.

"I know I know!" Dipper frowned, knowing this wasn't the time. "Oh, something important I forgot to tell you: don't cross the streams."

"Why?" Norman asked.

"It would be bad."

"I'm a little fuzzy on the whole good-bad thing." Mabel said. "Define 'bad'."

"Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light."

Mabel blanched.

"Total protonic reversal." Norman realized.

"Okay that's bad." Mabel nodded. "Thanks for the heads up."

"Anytime. Okay, Norman take the left, Mabel the right." Dipper ordered.

They spotted the ghost guzzling wine.

"Okay Norman, give me one outside. Go!" Dipper said.

Norman fired and the ghost flew away.

"Mabel!" Dipper said.

Mabel fired over by the desserts and the ghost flew away towards the glasses. Mabel fired again and the ghost flew away again, but Mabel kept firing. Norman and Dipper had to make 'hold it' sounds to get her to stop.

"Nice shooting Annie Oakley!" Dipper joked.

Outside the ballroom, the woman who had booked it had arrived.

"I assure you Mrs. Benhoffin there is no problem with the room, it will be ready promptly in time for your guests." The hotel manager said, trying to stall for time.

"The last one took something out of him but he's going to move!" Dipper said. "I need some room to put the trap down!"

Norman and Mabel started knocking aside tables, and the sound could be heard from outside the ballroom.

"If you will excuse me please..." The hotel manager said to Mrs. Benhoffin irritatedly before going over to the door; it was locked.

"Wait wait, I always wanted to do this." Mabel said before Norman could knock over the last table.

She quickly pulled the tablecloth, but contrary to expectations the silverware moved and the glasses shattered. Mabel didn't let that disappoint her however.

"And the flowers are still standing!" She said triumphantly.

"Okay, I need a confinement stream from you Norman!" Dipper ordered.

Norman got the ghost in his beam. Mabel then helped Norman confine the ghost.

"Start bringing him down...!" Dipper said. "Remember don't cross the streams! Okay I'm opening the trap now, don't look into the trap!"

Mabel and Norman quickly shut their eyes as Dipper opened the trap.

"Turn your streams off as soon as I close the trap!" Dipper said. "Get ready...okay I'm closing it!"

Mabel and Norman quickly turned off their streams and the trap sucked the ghost in. Mabel, Norman, and Dipper all had to look away, but soon the trap closed and it was all over. They then cautiously approached the trap and Norman inspected it.

"It's in there." He confirmed.

"Okay...well that wasn't such a chore now was it?" Dipper smiled.

Mabel and Norman looked at him incredulously.

Outside the ballroom...

"Mr. Smith quickly, I want that door opened now!" The hotel manager ordered.

Mr. Smith started to open the door...and then the Ghostbusters opened it for him.

"We came, we saw, we kicked it's butt!" Mabel said triumphantly.

"Did you see it? What is it?" The hotel manager asked.

"We got it!" Dipper said, holding up the trap.

"What is it?" The hotel manager looked at the smoking trap with disgust. "Will there be any more of them?"

"Sir, what you had there was a focused, non-terminal repeating phantasm." Dipper explained. "Or a Class-Five full roaming vapor. Real nasty one too. Now let's talk seriously: for the entrapment we're going to have to ask you for four big ones - that's four-thousand dollars - but we are having a special this week on proton charging and storage of the beast and that's going to come to one-thousand dollars."

"Five-thousand dollars? I had no idea it would be so much I won't pay it." The hotel manager said indignantly.

"Oh that's okay, we can just put it back..." Dipper headed back towards the ballroom.

"No no no!" The hotel manager stopped him. "All right. Anything."

"Thank you." Dipper smiled. "I hope we can help you out again sometime in the future."

They then started to leave.

"Okay out of the way, entrapped ghost coming through!" Mabel said.

Once in the Ecto-1...

"Dipper, are you sure you didn't ask for too much?" Norman said.

"Look, we really need the money and we don't know when our next job is going to be." Dipper pointed out. "Besides, all this equipment really does cost a lot of money."

"Okay."

However, it turned out that they got another job the very next day. Since they had already gotten so much money with the previous job Dipper asked for much less this time around. And then they kept getting more jobs. They eventually became the biggest news story in a long time:

"Hello I'm Roger Grimsby. The entire eastern seaboard is alive with talk of incidents of paranormal activity. Alleged ghost sightings and related supernatural occurrences have been reported across the entire Tri-State area."

"Well everybody has heard ghost stories around the campfire, heck my grandmother used to spin yarns about a spectral locomotive that would rocket past the farm where she grew up. But now, as if some unforeseen..."

And so it went on, both the jobs and the news reports. The Ghostbusters were on duty almost all the time...they soon got so busy that they had decided to make Wendy a Ghostbuster as well as a secretary, which she was very happy about. She and Dipper got to know each other more during the jobs as well.

"Hi this is Larry King. The phone-in topic today is: Ghosts and Ghost-Busting. The controversy builds, more sightings are reported, some maintain that these...professional paranormal-eliminators in New York are the cause of it all..."

Eventually the Ghostbusters almost couldn't go anywhere without being hounded by reporters.

"Still making headlines all across the country the Ghostbusters are at it again, this time at the fashionable dance club The Rose. The boys and girls in grey slugged it out with a pretty pesky poltergeist, then stayed on to dance the night away with the distinguished guests who witnessed the disturbance. This is Casey Kasem, now on with the countdown."

During one session with the reporters:

"Twenty-four hours a day seven days a week!" Dipper promised. "No job is too big, no ghost is too big!"

During one call:

"Is it just a mist or does it have arms and legs?" Wendy asked the potential customer on the other end.

During one talk-show interview, with Norman as the guest (Dipper made him go to get him more used to interacting with others):

"As they say in TV, I'm sure there is one big question on everybody's mind and I imagine you are the man to answer that: how is Elvis, and have you seen him lately?" The interviewer asked.


	4. A Big Twinkie on the Horizon

Heck, the Ghostbusters had even gotten to the signing-autographs portion of their fame. They also had gotten to the overly-exhausted portion of their career, and decided to hire more help. However despite their fame only one person even appeared for the job, a red curly-haired lad named Neil Downe. Originally he was just neutral about ghosts and the like, he didn't believe in them but he didn't disbelieve either. However he did always find the supernatural fascinating, and with all these reports of the paranormal he was starting to believe that ghosts were real after all. So, he decided to apply. He needed a job anyway and there weren't that many other options that interested him.

"Do you believe in UFOs, astral-projections, mental telepathy, ESP, clairvoyance, spirt photography, telekinetic movement, full-trance mediums, the Loch Ness Monster, and the theory of Atlantis?" Wendy asked during Neil's interview...not believing that she had to ask about the Loch Ness Monster and Atlantis. What did they have to do with ghost catching?

"Well, originally I was just neutral about all that." Neil admitted. "However, due to recent circumstances, I'll now believe in anything ghost-related."

Dipper and Mabel soon came back from another job.

"I've gotta get some sleep, I'm dying." Mabel said tiredly.

Waddles ran up to her, glad to see her again. She had been so busy that they hadn't played as often as they used to. Fortunately Wendy played with Waddles now and then to keep him fit, being able to due to her main job being at headquarters. She usually was only called into duty when one of the others was too tired to help out.

"Hey Waddles." Mabel knelt down to pet him. "Too tired to play but if you wanted to take a nap with me I'd appreciate the company."

Finding that better than nothing, Waddles followed Mabel upstairs.

"Here's the report on the Brooklyn gig." Dipper handed Wendy a sheet.

"And here's two more gigs." Wendy handed him another sheet.

"Great." Dipper groaned. "Two more free-repeaters."

"Hey Dipper, I was wondering...why do I also have to ask about the Loch Ness Monster and Atlantis during interviews?" Wendy asked.

"It's to test how dedicated to the job a potential Ghostbuster could be." Dipper explained. "If they say they'll believe in anything it most likely means that they're just in it for the fame and/or money. Those who act a bit more skeptical are more into the supernatural part of the job or just wants to help the city and so will be more hardworking."

"Oh. Well Mr. Neil Downe here says he now believes in anything ghost-related." Wendy introduced Neil.

"Great, he's hired." Dipper said before handing Neil a trap. "Head on down to the basement with this, I will be with you shortly to instruct you on how to empty it."

"Um...okay." Neil winced, accepting the trap and headed towards the basement.

After all if Dr. Pines had held it with his bare hands then it should be safe right?

Norman had just came downstairs by this point, having woken up from his nap. Fortunately Wendy and Mabel had finally found some information on Zuul earlier that day, so Wendy told Norman and gave him the info she and Mabel had written out.

Norman thanked Wendy and then headed upstairs to talk to Dipper and Mabel. You see Norman knew he had to tell Aggie, but he was nervous because Mabel had talked him into asking Aggie out on a date once he was able to explain what Zuul was to her.

"Come on Norman, it's been months and you hadn't even called her." Mabel pointed out.

"I know...I've wanted to, believe me, but I was too scared to."

"Look..." Dipper sighed, hoping he wasn't going to regret this. "How about this: if you ask Aggie out then I'll promise to ask Wendy out soon afterward?"

Norman winced, not liking the card Dipper was playing. After all when it came to convincing Dipper to ask Wendy out Norman was on Mabel's side...despite obviously empathizing with Dipper.

"All right." He gave in.

So since he found out that Aggie was singer back during that taxi ride to her apartment, Norman went to her choir's next performance. After the performance he waited outside for her. She and one of her choir friends came outside complaining about their substitute conductor, when Aggie froze upon seeing Norman shyly standing around nearby.

"Uh...excuse me a moment." She said to her friend.

"Do you know that guy?" Her friend asked, surprised.

"Yeah...he's an exterminator, he had been helping me with a nasty pest problem in my apartment." Aggie explained. "Never expected to see him here though..."

She hurried over to Norman.

"Hi...this is a surprise." She smiled.

"Th-that was a wonderful performance." Norman blushed slightly.

"You heard me?"

"Of course, you're the best one."

"Thank you...you're good, most people can't hear me with the whole orchestra playing." Aggie smirked.

"Ah...I, uh, have selective hearing..." Norman's blush became a bit stronger.

"I see. So, you're a big celebrity now." Aggie noted.

"Well...the others and I may have gotten a lot of attention but I wouldn't exactly go that far." Norman smiled shyly. "No one has cosplayed as any of us yet for one thing."

Aggie giggled.

"So...do you have information for me about my case?" She asked.

"Yeah...Wendy and Mabel found the name Zuul." Norman pulled a file out of his bag. "Got it all here, the name Zuul was a demigod that was worshipped around six-thousand BC by the Hittites, Mesopotamians, and Sumerians."

Aggie picked up a piece of paper and read it.

"Zuul was the minion of Cipher...who's Cipher?" She asked.

"He was very big in Sumerian...that was all we could find at the moment." Norman shrugged.

"Well what are they doing in my icebox?" Aggie asked irritatedly.

"I don't know, we're still looking into the apartment itself." Norman said apologetically. "Sorry I couldn't do better."

Aggie looked at his downcast expression and smiled.

"Hey, you and your friends did your best." She said comfortingly. "It looks like this sort of info just isn't common enough to be easily found, that's all."

Norman smiled gratefully at her, glad she wasn't disappointed in him, but he still looked a bit sad.

"You think with my powers I would've-" He muttered.

"What?" Aggie interrupted.

"Oh..." Norman realized that he hadn't been thinking to himself after all. "Um..." He sighed and decided to come clean: "I'm a Medium. I'm able to see and hear ghosts even when they're invisible. I have other powers too though, like dowsing."

Aggie gaped at him. Norman winced, worried that she'd think of him as a freak.

"No way...I'm a Medium too." She smiled quietly.

Norman couldn't believe his ears.

"Really?" He smiled back.

"Yeah. Only I can just see and hear ghosts...I can't do anything else yet." Aggie now looked a bit sad.

"Oh...didn't have anyone to teach you? My uncle taught me when I was a kid."

"Lucky, my last relative who also was a Medium died when I was really little." Aggie sighed.

"Well...maybe I could teach you?" Norman blushed again and his heart started to pound. "Maybe Thursday...evening...?"

Aggie started to catch on.

"Are you asking me out on a date?" She double-checked.

"Um...kinda..." Norman admitted.

Aggie smiled.

"I'd love to, but a friend of mine already invited me to his party that day." She said apologetically.

"Friend...him?" Norman pointed to the guy she had left the building with.

"No, another friend who lives in my apartment." Aggie shook her head. "You already know him."

"Oh, you mean Soos."

"Yeah he told me you guys met."

"Uh-huh. Nice guy."

"He is, in fact he's kinda like my big brother." Aggie nodded, smiling.

"Well...how about the party can be our date and I can just start teaching you other Medium skills another time?" Norman suggested. "Unless you'd rather not use the party for our date..."

"Actually, Soos will be the only one I'll really know there so I'd prefer it if you came as well." Aggie admitted. "It'd make me more comfortable. Anyway I'm afraid I have to go, I still need to run some errands before heading home."

"That's okay, I'd better help the others do more research anyway." Norman smiled.

They said their goodbyes, and Aggie left. Norman watched her leave for a while and then happily danced a little.

Meanwhile, Dipper instructed Neil on emptying the ghost traps in front of the main storage chamber in the basement.

"This is where we store all the vapors, entities, and slimers that we trap." Dipper said. "Very simple really, you just open it, unlock the system, insert the trap, release, close it, lock the system, set your entry grid, neutralize your field, and..." Dipper pulled down a lever. "Light is green, trap is clean. Ghosts are incarcerated here in our custom-made storage facility."

Norman soon came home looking very happy, and when Dipper, Mabel, and Neil came upstairs Dipper and Mabel instantly realized that Norman had succeeded in asking Aggie about. Wendy hadn't caught on however because she had been too into her book to even notice him come in. As for Neil he didn't know about Norman's feelings for Aggie and Dipper's feelings for Wendy yet of course, but he was soon going to find out.

"Come on Dipper, a deal's a deal." Mabel whispered to Dipper as Dipper hesitated at approaching Wendy's desk.

"Okay okay..." Dipper muttered, now regretting the deal even though he was very happy for Norman.

He nervously approached Wendy as Norman, Mabel, and Neil headed downstairs...only to hide on the top steps.

"Hi...Wendy...?" Dipper said.

Wendy looked up from her book and smiled.

"Oh hi Dipper, what can I do for you?" She asked.

"Um...well I've been wondering for a while if...you wanted to go to dinner sometime?" Dipper blushed, his heart pounding.

"You mean...like on a date?" Wendy asked.

"Yeah..." Dipper admitted.

Wendy grinned.

"I thought you'd never ask." She said.

Dipper gaped at her.

"Wait...you mean you...you like me?" He couldn't believe it.

"Well duh." Wendy continued grinning. "Actually though...I love you."

Dipper's heart stopped pounding and instead started beating faster. He smiled.

"I love you too." He said.

Wendy suddenly got up and kissed him, catching him off-guard.

"Wow..." He breathed after Wendy ended the kiss. "So uh...how about this Thursday?"

"Sure. Unless Mabel, Norman, and Neil need your help with another ghost." Wendy said. "Can't leave your friends hanging after all."

"No...especially since it'll just be Mabel and Neil." Dipper nodded.

"Norman's got something else planned huh?"

"Yeah." Norman walked in grinning, happy for both himself and Dipper. "A date."

"You mean you finally asked Aggie out and she said yes?" Wendy grinned. "It's about time ya shy-dog." She playfully punched Norman on the arm.

Norman just chuckled with a blush, instinctively rubbing his arm even though Wendy didn't punch his arm that hard. Mabel giggled at Wendy's pun as Dipper and Neil smiled at Norman.

"Wendy's right, we're all very happy for you." Neil smiled.

"Thanks Neil." Norman smiled back.

Norman, Neil, and Mabel then went back down to the basement so that Norman and Mabel could take over instructing Neil on the equipment down there, plus Norman wanted to check on the storage facility due to it having been bothering him lately. Dipper, needing a break, went into his office to rest.

A few minutes later, a black haired man arrived.

"May I help you?" Wendy asked.

"I think you can babe." The man smirked, instantly attracted to her. "Name's Robbie Veck, I work for the EPA. However I also freelance as a member of HAD, or Hunks Available for Dating, and I'd be willing to take you away from all-"

Waddles suddenly tackled him, knocking him to the ground.

"Waddles!" Dipper fake-scolded as he came out of his office. "How many times do I have to tell you, only tackle visitors if they break in during the middle of the night! Sorry about that sir, he's still being trained."

Wendy tried not to laugh. Waddles, knowing the difference between real-scolding and fake-scolding, waddled away with oinks that suspiciously sounded like chuckles.

"Right..." Robbie frowned, not believing Dipper but deciding to get to the reason why he came. "Are you Dipper Pines?"

"That's Dr. Pines to you." Dipper replied.

"What exactly are you a doctor of...Mr. Pines?" Robbie sneered.

"Parapsychology and psychology, and I happen to have PhDs in both."

"I see...and now you catch ghosts?"

"Yeah you can say that."

"And how many ghosts have you caught Mr. Pines?"

"I'm not at liberty to say."

"And where do you put these ghosts once you catch them?"

"Into a storage facility."

"And would this storage facility be located on these premises?"

"No, they're located on Pluto." Dipper retorted sarcastically, getting tired of these stupid questions.

Wendy tried not to laugh again. Robbie decided to ignore the sarcasm and get back to the main topic.

"And may I see this storage facility?" He asked.

"No." Dipper replied.

"And why not Mr. Pines?"

"Because you did not use the magic word."

"What is the magic word, Mr. Pines?"

"Please."

"May I please see the storage facility?"

"Why do you want to see the storage facility?"

"Well because I'm curious." Robbie was starting to lose his patience. "I want to know more about what you do here. Frankly there have been a lot of wild stories in the media, and we want to assess any environmental impact from your operation. For instance the presence of noxious, possibly hazardous waste chemicals in your basement."

"If you're really so concerned about waste chemicals, you first should check your own body for them." Dipper cut in snarkily. "I detect the overuse of cologne and it's certainly not coming from me."

Wendy was finding it harder to not laugh.

"Listen, you either show me what is down in your basement or I get a court order!" Robbie threatened, now starting to lose his temper.

"You get a court order, and I'll sue your ass for wrongful prosecution!" Dipper threatened back.

"You can have it your way, Mr. Pines." Robbie glared. "But pretty soon, things will go my way."

He started to leave, but then turned back around.

"Hey babe, you'd better look into secretary work at the EPA because I don't think your current job will last much longer." He smirked to Wendy.

"I'd rather work at a dump." Wendy retorted.

Dipper laughed, and Robbie glared at them before leaving.

"I think Mr. Veck has been-HAD." Dipper joked.

This time Wendy laughed.

"Yeah, but now this time he's just SAD: slimeball and dimwit." She agreed.

They both laughed.

Meanwhile, down in the basement, it turned out that Norman had every right to be bothered by whatever was going on with the storage facility. In fact he was so right that he was starting to become very worried.

Mabel hadn't really noticed this though, she was working on some of her knitting down there. Dipper didn't want her working on it upstairs in case she fell asleep, since she was a heavy sleeper and can't be woken up that easily. Things had gotten so busy lately that they all had to be awake as often as they could to prevent any of them from sleeping through another job call.

Neil on the other hand noticed how worried Norman was, but decided to let Norman bring it up on his own.

"I'm getting worried, from what I can see it's getting crowded in there and I keep sensing something big on the horizon." Norman massaged his head.

"What do you mean?" Neil asked.

"Norman's a Medium." Mabel said off-handedly.

Norman gave her an annoyed look.

"Hey, if he's gonna work with us then he has a right to know." Mabel shrugged.

"True..." Norman had to admit that Mabel had a point.

"Medium? That's so cool!" Neil beamed. "So what, you can understand ghosts?"

"Usually." Norman nodded, surprised that Neil had instantly found his being a Medium cool. "The ones I can't communicate with for one reason or another are the ones we trap. The rest I'm able to talk into crossing-over...though that's been strangely hard to do lately."

"Can you do anything else?" Neil asked.

"Well, I can use levitation and telekinesis." Norman noted. "But I don't use them that often because they tend to freak most people out."

"Understood, my irritable bowel syndrome has a tendency to make most people uncomfortable as well." Neil shrugged.

"Not quite the same thing..." Norman now rubbed the back of his head. "Anyway, I also have a slight case of ESP. It's not really that strong, but even so I am able to sense certain things. Right now for example, I can't tell what exactly is going to happen but I do know that it's going to be big..." Norman now looked even more worried. "Maybe even dangerous."

"What do you mean big?" Mabel asked.

"Well..." Norman decided to go for something more creative than scientific, and grabbed one of the Twinkies Mabel had been snacking on. "Say this Twinkie represents the normal psychokinetic energy in the New York area. According to my Medium senses this morning's 'Twinkie' was approximately...thirty-five feet long and weighed around six-hundred pounds."

Mabel and Neil gaped at Norman worriedly.

"That is one big Twinkie." Neil remarked.

"You mean everyone would be able to influence stuff?" Mabel realized. "Like use telekinesis to move things?"

"More like we might get an invasion of some kind...that's all I can gather anyway." Norman winced, starting to get a headache from trying to get a clearer sense of what was happening.

Dipper came downstairs.

"We just got a visit from one of the Environmental Protection Agency's less-human agents." Dipper remarked.

"What, extraterrestrial?" Mabel rolled her eyes.

"No, jerk." Dipper shook his head.

"Oh." Mabel chuckled.

"So how's the grid holdin' up?" Dipper asked.

"Not good." Mabel went back to looking worried.

"Tell him about the Twinkie." Neil said to Norman.

Dipper looked at them blankly, but switched to being concerned when he saw Norman's worried expression. He knew that Norman would only be worried about something like a 'Twinkie' if said Twinkie was metaphorical.

"What about the Twinkie?" He asked seriously.

Norman explained.


	5. Demon Dog Danger!

And it turned out Norman was apparently right about an invasion, because a few nights later something in one of the strange demon-like statues on the top of Aggie's apartment building was starting to break free from its stoney exterior...

Around the same time, Aggie came home from a jog. She walked past Soos's apartment, who opened the door. Party sounds could be heard from inside.

"Ah good, you're back." He smiled. "I was starting to get a bit worried."

"Oh please, I'm only about five minutes late." Aggie scoffed with a smirk. "You really are like my big brother...an over-protective one."

"What are friends for?" Soos grinned back. "So, gonna get ready for your date?'

"Of course, can't go to the party in sweats now can I?" Aggie smiled.

"Nope, definitely not a good idea." Soos agreed. "Glad you finally met someone though."

"You sound like my mother." Aggie laughed. "But yeah, I'm really glad too. Well, I'd better get ready, he should be here in a few minutes."

"Okay, I'll keep the drinks chilled until then."

Aggie went into her apartment and started to take off her jogging clothes...when the phone rang.

"Hello? Oh hi mom." Aggie smiled. "Oh...mom you should've called much earlier, I'm going to Soos's party with a date. Yes a date, I know. Norman, he's one of the Ghostbusters. Yes the guys on TV. Oh I thought there was something weird going on in my apartment and hired him to look into it but it turned out to be nothing. You'd like him, he's really sweet and a bit shy. Anyway, I gotta get ready. Okay, love you too. Bye."

She hung up and continued to take her jogging clothes off...but then heard a strange growling noise. She froze, knowing that the growling was supernatural, and became frightened upon seeing glowing coming from the kitchen. She started to get up to run away but some demon paws pinned her to the chair! She screamed as the chair suddenly turned around as the kitchen door opened to reveal the demon she had seen in her fridge before! She continued screaming as the chair zoomed towards the demon...

Meanwhile, one of the guests approached Soos.

"Soos do you have any aspirin, I got a bit of a headache." She said.

"Yeah...too much alcohol huh?" Soos guessed as he gave her a couple pills.

"Uh-huh. Thanks."

"Welcome. So how's everyone enjoying the party?" Soos asked his other guests.

Most of the guests were enjoying themselves, but one was just sulking in a chair.

"I'm a little bored." She admitted.

"How about a dance then?" Soos offered.

"Okay." She smiled.

They started to dance, but then the doorbell rang.

"Oh, excuse me." Soos went over to open the door. "Ted and Annette! Hi, how are you? Everyone this is Ted and Annette Fleming, Ted owns a cleaning business."

Soos went over to his bedroom to dump Ted and Annette's coats...failing to notice a demon similar to the one that got Aggie on his bed.

"So, does anyone want to play parcheesi-?" Soos asked.

There was a growl from his bedroom.

"Okay, who brought the dog?" Soos smirked.

The demon dog burst through the door, scaring the guests. Frightened, Soos ran away towards the elevators, the demon dog following. A neighbor, wondering what the noise was about, came into the hallway only to panic and go back inside upon seeing the demon dog.

"Help help there's a monster dog after me!" Soos screamed as he ran out of the apartment.

The demon dog was not far behind.

"I'm gonna bring this up at the next tenants' meeting." Soos panted. "There aren't supposed to be any pets in the building."

He came across a fancy restaurant and started rushing around looking for a way in.

"Please somebody let me in!" He pounded on the glass.

Too late, the demon dog caught up with him.

"Nice doggie..." Soos said nervously, trying to keep the demon dog calm. "Cute little pooch...maybe I got a Milkbone..."

The demon dog attacked.

Not long after, Norman arrived in a taxi while holding a bouquet of flowers. He was shocked to see the cops and a crowd in front of the apartment.

"What happened?" He asked a cop.

"Some moron brought a cougar to a party and it went berserk." The cop replied.

Norman, remembering that he and Aggie were going to Soos's party, rushed inside out of concern for Soos and Aggie. Once he reached their floor he went over to Soos's apartment, where guests were chatting with more cops.

"Is everyone okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, no casualties." The cop nodded. "Except the host seems to be missing."

"You mean Soos?" Norman was even more concerned.

"Yeah...you know him?"

"Met him a while back when I was taking care of a pest problem for a neighbor of his." Norman explained.

The cop nodded and went back to talking to the guests, so Norman headed over to Aggie's apartment to see if she was okay since he hadn't seen her in the party room. But once he reached the door he got a strong feeling that something was wrong. Even so he decided to take a chance and knocked on the door.

Aggie opened the door wearing a sultry outfit. Norman blushed a little as his heart skipped a beat.

"Are you the Keymaster?" Aggie asked.

Norman's heart then twisted painfully upon realizing that she had been possessed. He decided to go along with it to see if he could reach Aggie.

"Yes I am...well actually I'm a friend of his, he asked me to meet him here." He said.

Aggie let him in.

"I didn't get your name." Norman said.

"I am Zuul, the Gatekeeper." Aggie said.

"_Ah-ha, just as I thought._" Norman thought. "_This must have something to do with Cipher._"

"What are we doing today Zuul?" He asked.

"We must prepare for the coming of Cipher, the destructor." Aggie said.

"_Bingo._" Norman thought. "Okay Zuul, but before we do can I please talk to Aggie?"

"There is no Aggie, only Zuul." Aggie said.

"Sorry but I know Aggie is still in there." Norman frowned. "Aggie, Aggie it's Norman. Come on, you're a Medium, I know you can fight Zuul off."

"There is no Aggie, only Zuul." Zuul growled with a deep voice.

"Maybe I should've offered to teach her Medium skills sooner." Norman deadpanned to himself. "Once you've mastered the basics it actually becomes very hard to get possessed unless you allow it."

Zuul, getting angry, started growling as he rose Aggie's body into the air. Norman sighed.

"Please come down." He rolled his eyes.

As you've probably guessed by now, Aggie wasn't the only one who had been possessed.

"I am the Keymaster..." Soos said to himself as he ran through the streets. "The Destructor is coming..."

He heard a horses's whinny. It belonged to a carriage-pulling horse.

"Gatekeeper." He said before running over to the horse. "I am Vinz, Vinz Clortho, Keymaster of Cipher...Volguus Sildrohoar, Loard of the Seboullia. Are you the Gatekeeper?"

"Hey he pulls the wagon, I make the deals." The carriage driver said. "You want a ride?"

Soos lightly growled with burning red eyes, catching the driver off-guard.

"Wait for the sign, then all prisoners will be released." He said to the horse before running off. "You will perish in flames!"

"What an asshole." The carriage driver scoffed.

A while later, a cop went over to Ghostbusters and knocked on the door. Wendy opened it.

"Dropping off or picking up?" She asked, worried that Robbie Veck had ordered for Dipper's arrest.

"Dropping off." The cop replied.

"One moment please." Wendy said with relief before going to get Dipper.

Dipper soon came to the door with the scanner in his hand.

"Are you a Ghostbuster?" The cop asked.

"Yup, how may I help you?" Dipper asked.

"Well we picked up this guy and now we don't know what to do with him." The cop explained as he lead Dipper over to the paddy wagon. "Bellevue doesn't want him and I'm afraid to put him in lock-up. I know you guys are into this stuff so I figured we'd check with you."

"All right, let's have a look." Dipper held up the scanner.

Inside the wagon was Soos in a straightjacket.

"Are you the Gatekeeper?" He asked.

Dipper scanned him and got very positive readings.

"You'd better bring him inside." He said.

The cops helped Soos out of the wagon and into Ghostbusters Headquarters.

"You're a real humanitarian Dipper." Wendy smiled.

"I don't think he's human." Dipper deadpanned.

"Uh-oh, you mean...?" Wendy got it.

"Yup. Possessed."

Soos was brought into the rec room where he was scanned. In place of his head the lie detector screen showed the head of the demon dog.

"What did you say your name was?" Dipper asked.

"Vinz Clortho, Keymaster of Cipher." Soos said.

"Well according to this his name is-" Wendy read Soos's ID. "Wait a minute, Dipper his ID has Soos as part of his name."

"Soos?" Dipper's eyes widened. "I remember Norman mentioning him, he's one of Aggie's neighbors. Uh-oh, looks like that ghost she saw got strong enough to crossover into the mortal realm."

"I need a soda." Wendy winced as she headed over to the kitchen part.

"Vinz, you said before you were waiting for a sign." Dipper said to Soos. "What kind of sign?"

"Cipher the Traveler." Soos said. "He will come in one of the pre-chosen forms. During the rectification of the Vuldrini the Traveler came as a large moving Torg! Then, during the third reconciliation of the last of the Meketrex supplicants, they chose a new form for him: that of a giant Slor! Many Shuvs and Zulls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Slor that day, I can tell you!"

"Dipper, can I talk to you for a sec?" Wendy said, very uncomfortable by what Soos had just said.

"Excuse me." Dipper said to Soos before going over to Wendy. "What's wrong Wendy?"

"Dipper, this case is nothing like your previous cases." Wendy said quietly. "I'm afraid you're going to get killed solving this one."

"Don't worry Wendy, I'll be fine. I'm just afraid we'll have to postpone our date." Dipper said reassuringly. "Well, and that the whole world might be in danger..."

"Nice priorities." Wendy frowned, not amused.

"Sorry, but seriously I'll be okay. However I might need Norman's help to get more info out of this Vinz character...I hope he doesn't mind me interrupting his date."

"Well, this is an emergency so I'm sure he'll at least forgive you if nothing else." Wendy noted.

Then the phone rang, startling Soos.

"I'll get it." Dipper said, answering the phone. "Hello?"

"Dipper it's Norman."

"Oh good, I was just about to-" Dipper froze for a sec. "What's wrong?"

"You know that Zuul demon we found out about? He's possessed Aggie." Norman said. "I had to stick her with a sedative...thank goodness we decided to start carrying those around with us everywhere. Anyway, I was wondering if you could go look up some info about something called the Gatekeeper for me- Oh, uh, unless you and Wendy are in the middle of your date..."

"Actually we haven't even started it." Dipper replied. "You see we got a visitor who calls himself Vinz Clortho the Keymaster. I think he might have a connection to your Gatekeeper."

"Uh-oh...he didn't possess Soos did he?"

"How'd you know?"

"When I first arrived here there were cops and one of them said that a cougar attacked Soos's party, plus Soos ended up missing." Norman explained. "I had a bad feeling that it was something worse than a cougar."

"Great." Dipper said dryly. "Well, since you obviously couldn't reach Aggie do you mind coming over here and seeing if you can get more info out of Vinz? I'll look up the info you wanted in the meantime."

"Sure, nothing more I can do here anyway." Norman agreed. "Bye."

"Bye." Dipper said before hanging up and turning to Wendy. "Something tells me we're gonna need both Mabel and Neil's help on this. I hope they come back soon."

Meanwhile, Norman hung up and turned to the sleeping Aggie, who he had laid down on her bed after sedating her.

"Sorry to leave you Aggie, but I have to help Dipper." He said. "I'll save you from Zuul, I promise."

He left for headquarters.

Fortunately, Mabel and Neil were on their way back from another job.

"Hey Mabel, do you believe in God?" Neil asked.

"Never met any of them." Mabel replied. "Egyptian, Greek, Christian, Jewish, you name them and I've never met them. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I heard that the Bible had something on the apocalypse. Never actually read it myself though." Neil shrugged.

"I think I heard that too...at least in the Jewish Bible." Mabel said. "I forgot about the specifics, but there were mentions of natural disasters and the dead rising from the grave. But every ancient religion has its own myth about the end of the world."

"Myth? Mabel, had it ever occurred to you that maybe the reason why we've been so busy lately is because the dead have been rising from the grave?"

Wide-eyed, Mabel quickly scarfed down some marshmallows.

"Wanna turn on some music?" She asked through the marshmallows.

"Sure." Neil agreed understandingly before turning on the radio.

The next morning, some cars stopped in front of Ghostbusters. And Robbie Veck came out of one of those cars. He and some other guys, including an electrician, then entered the building.

"Excuse me!" Wendy protested, seeing them come in. "Excuse me where do you think you're going?"

"I'm going to shut this place down for risking the health and safety of the environment." Robbie replied. "Now if you behave I'll take you out on a date later today."

Wendy slapped him across the face for that.

"Watch it!" Robbie grabbed her. "Keep that up and your friends will get life sentences in jail."

"You wouldn't. I know you can't come in here without a warrant anyway." Wendy glared.

"I have one." Robbie smirked, holding up a folder. "Now, if you promise me a date later I'll go easy on your friends."

"I already have a date." Wendy retorted.

"With who? Mr. Pines?" Robbie scoffed.

"Yeah, because unlike you he has a heart."

Robbie glared at her and stormed down into the basement. Dipper was already down there looking over the equipment, trying to see if he could come up with an anti-possess device since Norman was running late. Dipper wasn't surprised though, Norman probably needed some sleep first anyway. Soos was down there too, curious about all the equipment.

"Dipper!" Wendy called, following Robbie and the men into the basement. "I tried to stop him but he says he has a warrant."

"Oh great." Dipper groaned; this was the last thing he needed. "Excuse me but warrant or no warrant this is private property."

"Shut these off, shut all of these off." Robbie ordered, ignoring Dipper.

"I'm warning you, shutting these machines off will be extremely hazardous." Dipper glared.

"I'll tell you what's hazardous: you're facing federal prosecution for at least half a dozen environmental violations." Robbie glared back. "Now either you shut off these machines or we shut them off for you!"

Meanwhile, Norman finally arrived. Turned out he did need a little nap before heading back, and he took one in the lobby of Aggie's apartment after asking a cop to wake him up in a few hours. He was still tired, but he was a bit more awake than he had been after sedating Aggie. He then got a worried feeling upon seeing some unfamiliar cars near the headquarters.

"Try to understand, this is a high-voltage laser containment system." Dipper blocked the machines with his body. "Simply turning off these machines would be like dropping a bomb on the city!"

"Don't patronize me, I'm not stupid like the people you've been duping!" Robbie snapped.

"What is going on down here?" Norman asked as he entered the basement.

"They want to shut off the machines." Dipper explained.

"What?" Norman said. "You can't do that, if shut it off you'll release all the ghosts! And I can't control them either."

"Oh please, like it takes a degree to control a hologram." Robbie scoffed.

"I don't know about that, but it does take Medium powers to control a ghost!" Norman snapped.

Robbie and the men who came with him stared at Norman.

"Oh great..." Norman facepalmed, having a feeling that they were among the last people he should've said that too.

"Look if you shut these off then we will not be held responsible for what happens." Dipper interrupted, wanting the focus off Norman.

"Oh you'll be held responsible all right!" Robbie retorted. "Shut it off!"

"Don't shut it off! I'm warning you!"

"Um...I've never seen anything like this before so I don't know if-" the electrician hesitated.

"I'm not interested in your opinion, just shut it off." Robbie retorted.

The electrician reluctantly went to the control box.

"My friend, don't be a jerk." Dipper cut him off.

"Hey step aside!" The cop pulled Dipper away.

"If he does that again you can shoot him." Robbie suggested.

"You do your job pencil neck, don't tell me how to do mine!" The cop scolded.

"Thank you officer." Dipper smiled.

"And if Dipper does get shot then I'll shoot you!" Wendy threatened Robbie.

"Wendy, stay out of this." Dipper said. "I don't want you in jail."

"Well if I do go to jail at least I'll be with you." Wendy pointed out.

Dipper couldn't help but looked touched by that. Robbie glared at them jealously.

"Shut it off!" He ordered.

The electrician reluctantly went over to the control box and Dipper, Norman, and Wendy slowly made their way upstairs. The electrician then turned off the machines...and the place glowed red as an alarm blared.

"Oh shit..." The electrician knew that he had just made a big mistake.

He, Robbie, and the other guys rushed upstairs. Even Soos went upstairs, though that had more to do with being curious as to where the others were going than anything else.

They all then rushed outside, with Waddles already there due to having sensed that something bad was about to happen. Sure enough, a few moments later there was a thin explosion that went through the roof and sent all the ghosts rocketing into the air. And that explosion woke up Aggie.

"This is it, this is the sign!" Soos said.

"Yeah it's a sign all right: Going Out of Business." Wendy facepalmed.

Mabel and Neil now arrived and rushed over to the others.

"What happened?" Mabel asked.

"They shut off the protection grid." Dipper explained.

"Oh great." Mabel facepalmed.

"That's bad isn't it?" Neil guessed.

"Yup."

"Where's the Keymaster?" Norman asked.

"Shit!" Dipper panicked.

"Who's the Keymaster?" Mabel asked.

"Come on!" Norman rushed towards the Ecto-1.

But, they were trapped by Robbie Veck and the cops.

"Hold it! I want these people arrested, they're criminal violators of the Environmental Protection Act! These maniacs caused that explosion-"

"MANIACS?" Norman lost it so much that he actually started to levitate and his telekinesis acted up.

"Norman!" Dipper grabbed his arm. "Geez man, calm down! This isn't gonna help us!"

"Well it could if Norman flies after this Keymaster thing...whatever it is." Neil suggested.

"Good idea, except I think Norman's too angry to do that." Mabel noted, grabbing Norman's other arm. "Norman, come on, this jerk's opinion doesn't mean anything anyway."

Norman slowly started to calm down, realizing that Dipper and Mabel were both right. His loss of temper still did some use though: it scared Robbie into temporarily shutting up.

"Guess he is Medium after all." The cop that had been in the basement with them remarked. "Um...better go easy on that one." He said to the other cops.

Norman, unlike the others, was gently escorted away instead of handcuffed and forced away. Although it was only that easy for the cops because Norman wanted to be with his friends that much.

"Wendy take care of Waddles for me!" Mabel called out.

"Will do!" Wendy promised, free from arrest since she had just been the secretary.

Meanwhile, the ghosts terrorized the city and Aggie went over to the outside wall to her apartment. She blew it up, hoping to get the Keymaster's attention. It worked, Soos headed straight for the apartment.


	6. Time for Some Butt-Busting!

At prison...

"Hey guard, I wanna make a phone call!" Neil said. "I mean I just work with these guys, I wasn't even there!"

The guard left.

"Great, how am I gonna ask Mitch for bail money now?" Neil muttered.

"The structure of this roof cap is exactly like the kind of telemetry tracker that NASA uses to identify dead pulsars in deep space." Dipper remarked as he looked at the blueprints of Aggie's apartment, which he managed to sneak out before leaving headquarters.

"Cold riveted girders with cores of pure selenium too." Norman added.

"Guess they don't make them like they used to." Mabel remarked.

"Mabel no one ever made them like this!" Dipper said. "The architect was either a certified genius or an authentic wacko!"

"What's going on?" Neil asked.

"It's the blueprints to Aggie's apartment, and according to these blueprints the entire building is, to put it simply, a ghost antenna." Dipper explained. "I looked up the architect in Tobin's Spirit Guide and his name was Ivo Shandor. After the end of the first World War he thought that society was too sick to survive and so started a cult."

"Cipher worshippers right?" Mabel guessed.

"Right. He and his cult performed rituals on the roof intended to bring about the end of the world and now it looks like it may actually happen!"

"Aggie..." Norman said worriedly. "She's caught in the middle of all this! We've got to get out of here and save her!"

"How? By telling a judge that some evil spirit is gonna start destroying the world?" Neil pointed out. "We gotta come up with something better than that."

"Okay Ghostbusters, the mayor wants to see you guys." A cop suddenly showed up. "The whole city is going crazy, let's go."

"Sounds better than a judge to me." Dipper smiled to Neil.

"Well, he does have more power than a judge." Neil agreed to that much.

Meanwhile, Soos found Aggie.

"I am the Keymaster." He said.

"I am the Gatekeeper." Aggie replied.

They started heading for the top of the roof...

The Ghostbusters were taken to Mayor Quentin Trembley's office...and the mayor was not happy.

"I've got a city blowing up and you guys aren't giving me any answers!" He complained to the people in his office.

"The Ghostbusters are here Mayor Trembley." A guy walked in.

"The Ghostbusters, good...and where's this Veck?"

"I am Robbie Veck sir, and I am prepared to make a full report." Robbie walked over towards Mayor Trembley. "These men are con artists who use gases to induce hallucinations, making people believe that they're seeing ghosts so that they call them up and pay them for 'getting rid' of the so-called ghosts with a light show."

"Everything was fine until the power grid was shut off by this jerk." Mabel replied.

"They caused an explosion!" Robbie retorted defensively.

"Is this true?" Mayor Trembley asked.

"It's true...he is a jerk." Dipper replied.

Robbie lunged towards Dipper for that and had to be dragged away.

"Break it up!" Mayor Trembley ordered. "I've got a city to run here, help me out Blubs!"

"All I know is that was no light show we saw this morning." Captain Blubs, head of the police department, said. "I've seen every form of explosion known to man, but this beats the hell out of me."

"The walls on 53rd street were bleeding, how do you explain that?" Another officer asked Robbie.

Robbie didn't have an answer.

"Look, I'm Neil Downe and I've only been with the Ghostbusters for a few days." Neil spoke up. "But I assure you the ghosts are real. Some of the things I've seen would turn your hair white."

Mayor Trembley looked stunned by that statement.

"Well you can believe Mr. Jerk over there." Dipper said to Mayor Trembley.

"My name is Veck!" Robbie retorted.

"Or you can accept the fact that this city is heading for a disaster of Biblical proportions." Dipper ignored Robbie.

"What do you mean Biblical?" Mayor Trembley asked.

"He means Old Testament, real Wrath of God type stuff." Norman explained. "Fire and brimstone coming down from the sky, rivers and seas boiling, forty years of darkness, natural disasters..."

"There's also the dead rising from the grave, which apparently has already been happening." Neil noted.

"Dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria! Yarn turning into snakes-!" Mabel really got into it.

"Mabel take it easy." Dipper interrupted.

"Yeah, I get the point." Mayor Trembley agreed.

"Oh..." Mabel calmed down. "Sorry, got a bit overexcited there."

"Now, what if you guys are wrong?" Mayor Trembley asked.

"If we're wrong then nothing happens and we'll go to jail peacefully." Dipper shrugged. "But if we're right and we can stop this thing, Quentin, you will have saved the lives of millions of registered voters."

Neil smiled to himself, now getting what Dipper had really meant by the mayor being better than a judge.

"You are seriously not thinking of listening to these con artists are you?" Robbie said.

There was a pause...

"Get him outta here." Mayor Trembley pointed at Robbie.

Some officials started to drag Robbie out.

"I'll get you for this Pines!" Robbie threatened.

"And say goodbye to rubbish." Mabel sniggered.

"Heh, Wendy's gonna be sorry she missed this." Dipper smirked.

"Who?" Mayor Trembley asked.

"My girlfriend, who Robbie kept flirting with."

"Ah. Well, what do you need from me?"

"Nothing really, though it would be a good idea to have the hospitals and ambulances ready just in case." Norman said.

"Plus some cops for crowd control wouldn't hurt either, in case the people start to panic." Dipper added.

So, that was what Mayor Trembley gave them: hospitals and ambulances on alert and cops to make sure that the crowds didn't panic too much.

It was a good thing too because ominous dark clouds started to form above Aggie's apartment, worrying much of the public. They felt better and cheered when the Ghostbusters arrived though.

The Ghostbusters greeted the crowd and then headed towards the apartment...only to stop when the dark clouds started flashing blue lightning.

"I think we'll have to put in a little overtime on this one." Mabel remarked.

Suddenly the ground rumbled and split open underneath the Ghostbusters, causing them to disappear underground! There were a few tense moments...and the Ghostbusters climbed out unharmed apart from being a bit shaken, much to the relief of the crowd.

"Okay they wanna play rough? We'll play rough!" Mabel declared, very irritated.

They headed inside...and much to their annoyance had to take the stairs due to the elevators not working.

"What floor is it?" Mabel said.

"Twenty-two." Norman said.

"Great." Neil muttered.

"When we get to twenty let me know so that I can throw up." Dipper winced.

Eventually they reached floor twenty-two and headed for the end of the hall. There they found the stairs Aggie and Soos had taken previously.

"Where do these stairs go?" Neil asked.

"Up." Dipper deadpanned.

Speaking of Soos and Aggie, they were waiting patiently for the power source that they needed to open the gate for Cipher. The power source, lightning bolts, struck them just as the Ghostbusters caught up.

"Aggie!" Norman gasped worriedly.

Aggie and Soos turned into demon dogs.

"Oh Aggie..." Norman said with pain in his voice.

The Ghostbusters went closer and saw the gate, which opened and let out some sort of female creature.

"Cipher." Norman frowned.

"I thought Cipher was a man." Neil said.

"It's whatever it wants to be." Dipper explained.

"Well whatever it is it's gonna have to get by us!" Mabel declared.

"Right!" Norman agreed.

"Go get her Dipper!" Mabel suddenly said.

Dipper glared at her as Norman smiled with slight amusement. Neil however just looked confused, not getting the joke.

"Are you a god?" Cipher suddenly asked Mabel.

Mabel hesitated for a moment as Dipper, Norman, and Neil nodded to tell her to say yes.

"No." She admitted truthfully.

"Then die!" Cipher zapped them with lightning, almost making them fall off the roof.

Fortunately none of them did, but even so Dipper, Norman, and Neil glared at Mabel.

"Mabel, when someone asks if you're a god you say YES!" Neil scolded.

"All right, this poltergeist is toast!" Norman declared. "First you have the woman I love possessed, and then you nearly kill the only friends I've ever had! I'VE HAD IT!"

Norman used his telekinesis to attack Cipher with debris, but Cipher was too powerful for him and just sent the debris back. Norman ended up knocked down but otherwise fine.

"Maybe I should get back to practicing my own skills before I start to train Aggie." He muttered.

"Nice try Norman, but let's use the proton packs on this one." Dipper said. "Okay, grab your sticks!"

"Holdin'!" The other Ghostbusters armed themselves.

"Heat them up!"

"Smokin'!"

"Make 'em hard!"

"Ready!"

"Let's show this prehistoric creep how we do things downtown. THROW IT!"

The Ghostbusters fired...and Cipher flipped over to the other side.

"Nimble little minx isn't she?" Mabel remarked.

"We'd better go full stream." Norman suggested.

They did...and Cipher disappeared.

"Well..." Dipper said, surprised. "That was easy."

"Too easy." Norman frowned.

Then there was a rumble.

"Look out!" Neil said.

They quickly went out of the way as part of the building fell off and crashed onto the ground, fortunately not harming anyone.

"Choose and perish!" Cipher's voice said.

"Choose?" What does that mean?" Neil asked.

"Choose the form of the destructor!"

"Oh I see, whatever we think of will appear to destroy us." Norman got it.

"In that case just keep your minds blank and don't think of anything." Dipper ordered.

"The choice is made!" Cipher suddenly said.

"Whoa hold it!" Dipper complained.

"The traveler has come!"

"Nobody chose anything!" Dipper continued complaining before turning to Norman. "Did you choose anything?"

"No!" Norman said.

"Did you?" Dipper turned to Neil.

"My mind is totally blank!" Neil said.

"I didn't-" Dipper continued, only to stop.

He, Norman, and Neil glared at Mabel.

"I couldn't help it...it just popped in there." Mabel said sheepishly.

"**What** just popped in there?" Dipper asked sternly.

"I-I tried to think-"

"Look!" Norman interrupted.

Stomps and screams were heard. The Ghostbusters rushed towards the sound.

"No...it can't be!" Mabel gasped.

"What is it?" Neil asked.

"What did you do Mabel?" Dipper scolded.

Something large and yellow with a big grin showed up.

"It's the Smile Puff Dog." Mabel said.

Sure enough it was a giant friendly-looking yellow dog. However the Ghostbusters knew that this dog wasn't as friendly as it looked.

"Why did you ever have to get addicted to those darn marshmallows in the first place?" Dipper frowned at Mabel with annoyance.

"Well I was trying to think of something that could never possibly harm us and the Smile Puff Dog came to mind..." Mabel retorted sheepishly.

The Smile Puff Dog walked through the city, crushing things and causing the people to run away with fright.

"Um, you got any ideas Norman?" Neil asked.

"Sorry guys, I got nothing." Norman was still gaping at the Smile Puff Dog.

"Well there is one thing..." Dipper hesitated. "Crossing the streams."

"Hold on Dipper, you said crossing the streams was a bad thing!" Mabel pointed out.

"Yes, but it'll reverse the particle flow and cause the gate to swing the other way." Dipper pointed out. "Plus it's the only thing I can think of."

"But won't we die?" Mabel reminded him.

"Well there is a small chance that we'll survive."

There was an awkward pause.

"Well I don't know about you guys but I'm willing to risk my life to save Aggie." Norman finally said determinedly. "Um, and Soos and the entire world too of course." He then added awkwardly.

"Someone's definitely in love." Mabel playfully nudged Norman, causing him to blush.

"I'm willing to risk my life for the world too." Neil decided.

Dipper and Mabel nodded with agreement. The four of them then went closer to the door in preparation.

"See you on the other side Mabelton." Dipper said before firing.

"It's been nice working with you Dipping-Sauce." Mabel agreed before firing.

Norman and Neil fired as well, then the four of them slowly started to cross the streams. It was a struggle but they managed it. It worked too, not only did the gate explode but so did the Smile Puff Dog and most of the roof of the building. The best part was: some of the marshmallow hit Robbie.

"I HATE YOU PINES!" He cried hysterically.

There were some tense moments...and then Mabel and Neil slowly started to get up, covered in marshmallowy goo.

"Dipper?" Mabel called.

Dipper started to get up, also covered in marshmallow goo.

"Well, this is actually better than ghost slime." He remarked. "Norman?"

"I'm okay...and I feel like the floor of a taxi cab." Norman got up, also covered in goo. "You guys all right?"

They were all all right, so they decided to check out the remains of the situation.

"Ugh, smells like barbecued dog hair." Mabel winced; Dipper jabbed her in the side. "Oh...oh Norman I...I'm so sorry."

Norman however hadn't even heard her. Instead he just heartbrokenly stared at the charred remains of the demon dog that possessed Aggie.

"I did promise to save you Aggie, but I didn't think I'd have to kill you to do it." He said quietly. "I'm really sorry."

He sadly started to leave.

"Norman hold it, something's happening!" Neil said.

Startled, Norman turned back around. Neil was right, something was breaking out of the demon dogs! Suddenly hopeful, Norman rushed over and helped break the demon dog remains. Dipper, Mabel, and Neil got to work on the other demon dog. Aggie and Soos were both alive!

"Aggie!" Norman gasped with relief, hugging her. "I love you."

Aggie was still a bit disoriented from having been possessed, but even so was able to grasp what Norman had just said.

"I love you too." She said.

Norman pulled away a little, beaming, and they kissed.

"Hey, you okay Soos?" Neil asked Soos after he was freed.

"Kinda...how'd you know my name?" Soos asked.

"Norman told us." Mabel smiled.

"Oh, you must be the other exterminators." Soos smiled.

"Uh-huh. Ghost exterminators." Dipper nodded.

"That would account for that strange dog that attacked me." Soos noted. "I thought it was too weird to be a real dog."

Norman, Dipper, and Mabel started to help Aggie and Soos off the roof and back inside the building.

"I love this town!" Neil cried joyfully before joining them.

They all then went downstairs, the Ghostbusters being hailed as heroes. Norman and Aggie kissed again out of joy, and Wendy rushed over with Waddles. Waddles and Mabel happily greeted each other as Wendy and Dipper kissed. Robbie, still covered in goo, glared at them. He glared even more as Dipper and Norman told the cops to arrest him for accusation without proof, since he actually never had any proof that they had hazardous wastes about (which they didn't, the only 'hazardous' things on the premise had been the ghosts). Afterwards the Ghostbusters, Wendy, and Aggie left to celebrate their major victory.

Of course they couldn't celebrate for long, for there were still a lot of ghosts to take care of. However this time Norman was able to calm them down a lot easier and help a lot of them crossover, making Dipper figure that the upcoming arrival of Cipher was what had agitated them into being unreasonable before.

But eventually things started to calm down. Soos even joined the Ghostbusters as their technician and repairman - plus as backup like Wendy - which made things a lot easier around headquarters.

And, many months later, Dipper and Wendy married. Not long after that, so did Norman and Aggie. Also thanks to Norman Aggie was able to learn new skills, making her another valuable member of the team. In fact you could even say that the entire team became one big happy family.


End file.
